Plano Prop A venue tax to help fund new Dallas Stars arena fails

PLANO, Texas - Plano residents rejected a venue tax measure that would have helped to fund a new Dallas Stars arena.

Plano voting on Proposition A

What we know:

With 100% of the precincts reporting, roughly 55% of Plano voters said they were against Prop A, with only 45% supporting the tax.

If it was approved, Plano leaders planned to use the venue tax to help fund the new Dallas Stars arena that will be built at the current Shops at Willow Bend Mall site.

The taxes would have been applied to car rentals, hotels, parking, admissions and other venues.

Plano leaders believed the venue tax would generate $700 to $900 million in revenue for the city. The city would cap contributions from the venue tax towards the new Stars arena at $700 million.

The other side:

Some Plano residents made it clear during the election cycle they were not in favor of helping fund the Stars' new arena.

A political action committee called STOP The Stars Arena PAC held multiple events expressing their opposition to Prop A, citing potential property tax increases as more improvements are made to the arena site.

"One of the things that we’re hoping to get across to everyone is there’s a lot of unanswered questions. The city hasn’t built a financing plan, they haven’t built a tax revenue plan, we don’t even have a site plan, so they can’t create the traffic study. There’s some very basic things that are missing, but we’re rushing to a vote on November 3rd," Bob Healey, who is on the board of the STOP The Stars Arena PAC, said in October.

Residents also expressed concerns about the Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone, an already-approved measure that will collect tax dollars near Willow Bend and the Dallas North Tollway to buy back bonds.

Plano Mayor John Muns and Dallas Stars President & CEO Brad Alberts have both pointed to the idea that the venue taxes would affect visitors and not Plano residents themselves.

What's next:

The new Dallas Stars arena in Plano is expected to be completed by the start of the 2031 season. Its look will be created by HNTB, a firm hired by the team in August to oversee its design.

Without Prop A, Plano leaders said they would look at alternate ways to fund the new arena.

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